After a back-and-forth start to Wednesday's game, the University of Redlands men's basketball team broke it open midway through the first half to capture a 96-64 victory over Caltech in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) action. The Bulldogs gained at least one point from all 14 players in the game and earned 25 steals against the Beavers.

The first few minutes of the game saw two tied scores and three lead-changes but the Maroon and Gray stepped it up with stellar shooting and stifling defense to erupt with a 22-point lead at the break.

Redlands continued to put the ball in the hoop while taking advantage of Caltech's turnovers during the second half.

The Bulldogs gained as much as a 38-point lead late in the final period.

Junior forward Matt Dietrich (Phoenix, AZ) paced the Redlands offense with 13 points, going 4-for-7 from the field and 5-for-5 from the line. Junior guard Justin Sobczyk (Palm Desert, CA) provided 12 points and senior guard Andrew Maertens (Salt Lake City, UT) chipped in 10 points. The Bulldog bench came up with 50 points with freshman guard Brian Kuklok (Poway, CA) leading that charge with nine points and junior guard Kent Ervin (Bend, OR) and junior center Jordan Sanvictores (Redwood City, CA) backing him with eight apiece.

Redlands shot 50.7% from the field to go along with a 30.0% mark from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs provided one of their best showings of the season at the free-throw line with an 87.0% performance.

Caltech appeared much improved from a year ago, shooting 50.0% from the field and 76.5% from the line, but struggled to keep possession with 35 turnovers.

The Bulldogs (5-8, 1-1 SCIAC) host the Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer Colleges in Saturday's doubleheader. The women tip off at 5 p.m., followed by the men's game at 7:30 p.m. in Currier Gym.